Below is a response I got from Stewart Regan after my latest letter to him last week. It would appear after Ralph Topping’s recent comments they are trying to align their stars and sing from the same Hymn sheet. I have responded once again below, but we need pressure put on from other teams and their supporters.

Dear Joe,

Thanks for your follow-up email. I’m not surprised that you take the position you do as the General Secretary of the Celtic Supporters’ Association. It’s clearly an emotive subject for supporters of Celtic.

I would like to take issue with one point you make, namely the line “have you actually asked for anyone’s opinion apart from some nameless QC?”As this is a highly complex legal matter we have sought Senior counsel opinion and as a board are content with the advice we have been given and the decisions we have made. There are a myriad of other opinions out there on this subject, the majority of which are linked to vested interests. As such, we are minded to keep this matter objective and rely on expert opinion to aid our decision-making.

Best wishes,Stewart.

Mr Regan, Thanks for your response, but once again you have not provided me with any real answers. I said that I believed an independent judicial review was required to get Scottish Football back where it should be. I don’t think you are intending to commission such a review any time soon. I also stated on more than one occasion that in terms of the Supreme Court decision with regards to HMRC v Rangers 1872, this was not a Celtic v Rangers issue, but a Rangers v Scottish Football issue. Your right it is an emotive subject, but not just for us Celtic Supporters, but for all football supporters in Scotland. I noted the comments by outgoing SPFL President Ralph Topping, which supports what you said in you correspondence in terms of seeking advice from a “Senior Counsel” is there any paperwork to support that claim? Could you publish an attendance record and the minutes of that meeting? If the meeting actually took place, can you confirm that all the relevant information was provided for the senior counsel? It is just the same situation as with the Resolution 12 Bhoy’s. You claim that everything was done proper and above board, yet no proof of that has ever been published, in fact they (R12B) would claim that the whole truth was not being told, and that very important information was withheld from the Lord Nimmo Smith inquiry. It is very hard for normal supporters to understand that if all the information was presented to LNS, how he could come to the conclusion that no sporting advantage was gained, especially as both David Murray at the Supreme Court and ex Rangers manager Alex Mc Leish in an interview both have since said they did gain an advantage. And most importantly, the DOS/EBT’s schemes were at that time in affect deemed to be legal, are now deemed to be illegal. You have to ask yourself why all the other teams in Scotland didn’t take advantage of the scheme that could have saved them all a lot of money, I know the proposal was put to Celtic but they declined to use the scheme. In the business world every day of the week they tell us that you can only attract the best employees by paying the top money, is that not exactly what David Murray did, but he financed the contracts of the best players by evading paying tax and national insurance, the only way he could afford to do it. If the players signed were not registered properly with the relevant authorities then they were not allowed to take part in professional matches. As we know quite a number of players took part in professional matches over a number of years. Going by your own rules this should have resulted in the match being forfeited by the team playing the illegally registered players. Mr Regan you and your colleagues are paid to administer Scottish Football for the benefit of all the teams, not for the benefit of one team, and that is exactly how most of the honest team’s supporters see what is happening. As the late Great Jock Stein said “Football without fans is nothing” if you and Neil Doncaster and your colleagues don’t act soon that is what is going to happen. Let me stress once again, the major stakeholders in Scottish Football are the supporters who pay good money every week to watch it. They will only continue to pay if the game is played on a level playing field, and if those who break the rules and Cheat are suitably punished.

Dear JoeGreat work on behalf of the decent supporters of all clubs. Well it's a surprise that you got any reply at all - weel done and keep the pressure on, they are showing signs of rats deserting the sinking ship so will crack eventually. Just wish all fans clubs could do what you're doing and publish replies as a group - just so we can each check the answers.

Feed

Go to page

The Celtic Supporters Association

The Celtic Supporters Association was the idea of Willie Fanning whose dream became a reality back in September 1944.

These were dark days on and off the pitch with the Second World War still raging and in comparison to those horrors rather more trivialy Celtic were not providing much joy to its supporters and defeat was a regular experience. Indeed the idea of a supporters association came to 27-year-old Willie while watching the Bhoys get thrashed 6-2 at Hamilton.

Willie decided to write to the Daily Record calling on fellow Celtic fans interested in establishing a supporters club to get in touch. A total of 14 people replied. Consequently a meeting was arranged at St Mark's and St Paul's Hall, Chester Street in Shettleston. The meeting proved to be a success - a provisional committee was installed and Willie was elected as President.

By the time of the second meeting at the A.O.H. Hall in Alexandria Parade in Townhead the word had spread. The hall was packed and car loads of supporters from across Glasgow and beyond eager to attend created a traffic jam along the parade.

A constitution was drawn up which allowed the new organosation to become an amalgamation of supporters clubs. Within 12 months membership had rocketed to 700 and the association had won the official endorsement of Celtic FC who handed over the responsibility of distributing match tickets to affiliated branches of the CSA.

The CSA remains a strong and influential body. Apart from following Celtic in massive numbers it has a social club in Glasgow and its annual Supporters Rally is a highlight in the Celtic calendar.

True to the traditions of Celtic FC the CSA also has a proud and continued ethos of raising funds for charity.